Driving with eyes shut as dangerous as drink driving, says research

A scientific paper published following 18 months of intensive research claims that drivers who keep their eyes tightly shut could be putting lives at risk, detailing how they are rendered incapable of avoiding the simplest of obstacles with their vision obstructed by their eyelids.

‘This was a surprising result,’ explained Richard Phillips, head of the research team. ‘Closing the eyes technically reduces the number of distractions for the driver, so performance should improve.’

To test this theory drivers were divided into two groups. The first group were instructed to drive with their eyes shut and the second asked to update their Facebook status while driving. Contrary to expectations, the ‘Facebook’ group were able to avoid some of the obstacles some of the time, while the ‘closed eyes’ drivers were a complete disaster.

The paper will be published in the ‘Expensive research into the bleedin’ obvious’ section of Nature.